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Sultry culinary genius Isabella (Penélope Cruz) leads an idyllic life running a seaside restaurant in Brazil with her husband Toninho (Murilo Benício) - until she finds Toninho in bed with another woman that is. Heartbroken she heads off to San Francisco and immediately finds work as -- what else? -- the host of a TV cooking show. Screwball comedy complications ensue as a prayer to a Brazilian goddess goes awry Isabella's show becomes a hit and a penitent Toninho arrives to try and win his wife back.
Perma-pouting Spanish dish Cruz ("All About My Mother") is a solid actress with an excess of on-screen charisma but she isn't particularly well served by her first Hollywood starring vehicle. Hampered by their thick accents she and hunky Brazilian co-star Benício ("Orfeu") fight their way through hokey exchanges that have no business being in English anyway. (The whole film would have gone down more smoothly in Brazil's romantic tongue Portuguese.) Of the supporting players Harold Perrineau ("The Best Man") generates the most sparks putting a surprisingly fresh spin on one of the more tired modern screen clichés: the strapping black drag queen.
Venezuelan-born helmer Fina Torres ("Celestial Clockwork") adopts the candy-shop approach to commercial storytelling packing her film with enough sexy stars bright South American colors and tangy bossa nova tunes to distract viewers from the lame predictability of Vera Blasi's script. Pinching ingredients from the Mexican food-and-sex smash "Like Water For Chocolate " the filmmakers cobble together a passable romantic fantasy in the Latin American magical-realist tradition. Too bad most of the comedy falls flatter than a Brazilian crèpe.

Does ... this ... movie ... really ... have ... to ... be ... nearly ... two
... hours ... long? By showing Basinger's character's extensive adjustment to life in the bush the film eventually manages to tell the story of one woman's quest to find strength through her pain. Not too original.
Though Basinger doesn't give the Academy-caliber performance she did in
"L.A. Confidential " she does manage to draw you in. She's most powerful in her dramatic roles and in this movie the drama comes when she attempts to deal with the loss of her loved ones. Sadly the dashing Vincent Perez as her new husband is forgettable.
In telling this story Hugh Hudson takes his time ... too much time. Easily "I
Dreamed of Africa" could stand to lose at least 20 minutes. Hudson does know however how to get the best work out of Basinger. And kudos to the cinematographer. The vastness of the African landscape and the beauty of its sunsets are a treat.

You should keep what you were given.
At least that's star Sandra Bullock's philosophy when it comes to having plastic surgery. At a press conference in London, where she is promoting her latest film Miss Congeniality, a film about an FBI agent who goes undercover at a beauty pageant, Bullock told Reuters that she would never have any work done on her face. "Absolutely not. I love what I have," she said.
After hearing that several plastic surgeons use her chin as a perfect model when reconstructing clients, she joked, "Don't you think I should get a kickback for that?"
She went on to say, "If I saw myself on the street, it would be unnerving, but whatever makes them feel good. If my chin makes them feel better, then great." Oddly enough, Bullock doesn't really like her chin. "It always drove me crazy because it had the cleft," she said.
The star of Speed and Hope Floats learned a few things while working with real-life beauty contestants in the film. "How to achieve a more voluptuous figure without altering yourself surgically is what I learned," she said. "You can make it work. You can make it bigger or smaller. If you don't like your hips, go exercise."
The film Miss Congeniality has received mixed reviews. Given her recent track record (which includes 28 Days and Forces of Nature), perhaps Bullock is choosing the wrong scripts. But the actress, who has been compared to Lucille Ball for her physical comedy talents, defends her choices. "Comedy always gets slammed. It is a weird thing," she said. "You don't make films like that to get reviewed. It's not like we are curing cancer."
Bullock, who commands $12 million a film, is happy to be working in her chosen profession and credits Julia Roberts, who broke the $20 million boys' club, with opening the doors for women to do films in a high income bracket. "[It's like] she is saying - you can make money doing films like this," she said.
Bullock will next star in director John Hughes' comeback film The Chambermaid with Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry) and the thriller Fool Proof with Ben Chaplin (Lost Souls).